Dad sells his young daughter to older man for 15 sheep

Dad sells his young daughter to older man for 15 sheep

AWFUL: The girl was abducted and 'sold' in exchange for 15 sheep [GETTY]

The forced marriage was uncovered when the 14-year-old girl, who has not been named for legal reasons, tried to escape by running away. However she was captured and beaten up.

She then called her mother hoping to be rescued but was taken back to her new husband, who was eight years older than her.

After another beating the distraught girl was able to call the police, who took her away from the abuser and put her in a child refuge.

Her 39-year-old father was arrested along with the 26-year-old man who tried to buy her, who was charged with rape and kidnapping.

The girl's ordeal began in January when a group of men turned up in a car at her home in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

“Realising that her mother had abandoned her, things went from bad to worse”

Major Thulani Zwane

They abducted her and put her in a new home, where she was taken inside by a man and raped.

In the area the practice is known as ukuthwala – where young girls are kidnapped and forced into marriage. Ukuthwala is illegal.

Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said: "The young girl contacted her parents and asked what was going on, informing them she did not like what this man was doing to her.

"The parents informed her that she was at her new home and that the man she was with would take care of her."

The girl relentlessly called her parents for help, the court heard, until the mother forced her to face her "husband" and tell him she was unhappy.

Zwane added: "Realising that her mother had abandoned her, things went from bad to worse as the young girl made it clear to the man that she did not want to be married to him.

"The 'husband', though, was adamant that he had paid for her so she must perform her wifely duties."

Professor Lebo Moletsane, an expert in childcare in rural areas, said the girl's mother should have been arrested as well.

She added that women were often "raging enforces" of so-called cultural values – even if they were oppressed by them too.

She said: "We have to understand the mother's actions in the context of the patriarchal system in which hew live and how that frames the view of female children in families, communities and society.

"I hate to use poverty as an excuse but that's one of the reasons people sacrifice their children.

"There are 15 sheep in a household where there weren't any before. From her perspective, she sees that the so-called husband can afford this lobola [price paid for a bride], meaning he can afford to take good care of her daughter – never mind the cruelty and pain of being taken against her will."

The girl's father and captor are remanded in custody until their next court appearance on June 22.